Tails of Prince Zen and Obi the Cat
by Orcinus234
Summary: When walking down a street in a massive storm, Zen, the younger brother of the CEO of Clarines Corporations, finds a badly injured black kitten in a box in a dirty alleyway. [COMPLETED]
1. Chapter 1

Zen looked down at the soaked black kitten with a look of sympathy and fear for it. The sky was grey, it was pouring rain and lightning flashed in the distance, then thunder would rumble and scare away all the strays in the alleyway, all the strays except the little black kitten that was laying down on its belly inside of a cardboard box that did nothing to protect it from the pouring rain. It's ears were flat on it's head and its eyes were open a little, it seemed to refuse to fall asleep, but it also seemed it had no plan of moving either. it didn't seem to acknowledge that the white-haired teen was still standing there staring at it. It had looked up when the other cats ran away because of the teen walking into the alleyway, but had lowered it's head when it saw the human walking towards it.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the alleyway for a short moment, but it was enough for Zen to see it – the blood. The black kitten was covered in scratches that he assumed were caused by the other cats. There was a small pool of blood under it's chest and head. The lightning allowed Zen to see the blood, but he still can't see where it's bleeding from. The thunder was deep, but neither Zen nor the kitten acknowledged it.

 _Mitsuhide and Kiki are going to kill me._

His parents had told him multiple times not to touch strays, much less be near them and his older brother, Izana, had enforced it when he had taken over Clarines Corporations. It's kind of funny in a way; his parents, brother and friends telling him to stay away from strays when the company is meant to help people whether they're poor or rich. Just this morning, Zen had signed a plea to let an orphan child keep his dog that had been stealing bread from a bakery near the orphanage. The dog had been feeding the orphans as it turned out – if Zen had read the horrible green crayon writing correctly. Everyone tells him to help others, even though his family seemed to do it for the money.

The shivering kitten was nearly drowning in rainwater and blood in the dirty alleyway and if Zen left, the other cats might come back and finish the job. Zen on the other hand, was fully dressed with a nice warm white sweater, navy blue jeans and shin high black rain boots with a new blue umbrella that he held over his head in his white mitten covered hand. If his family and friends were here, they would most likely tell him to leave the kitten to die.

Good thing they're not here.

Another flash of lightning tore through the sky. When the dim light above the single door in the alleyway was the only source of light again, the kitten was no longer in what remains of the cardboard box. Zen cradled the kitten to his chest with his free hand, finally being able to take in just _how much_ the kitten was shivering. The kitten was wide eyed for a few seconds and once it realized that Zen had started walking out of the alleyway it started to struggle.

"Shh, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," said Zen, looking down his chest at the kitten.

The kitten continued to struggle for a bit, but soon ceased to. The poor thing was tired, Zen could tell, even if he was more focused on all the blood that was staining his sweater and mitten. Now that he had the kitten to his chest, he could see the extent of its wounds better. The scratches weren't from other cats, Zen noted, they were from a knife. He couldn't tell what kind of knife had dealt the damage, but he honestly didn't want to know or to have the image of someone attacking the poor kitten in his head. The kitten had an owner before, Zen could tell by the kitten's relative cleanness, probably having been abandoned a couple of hours ago. Above its left eye was a small fresh scratch that obviously wasn't the culprit to the blood that soaked Zen's mitten and sweater, given how shallow it looked. There were some more scratches on it's sides and legs, but Zen figured that the largest wound that was producing all the blood was on it's chest. The top of Zen's palm – which was supporting the kitten's chest – was already soaked in blood. He could feel the warm liquid on his hand.

"Who did this to you?"

They continued in silence. Zen had been frowning for most of the walk but let a soft smile take his face when the kitten had sleepily snuggled into his chest.

Mitsuhide and Kiki had been waiting for him. They had been in his room for a long time if the two piles of movies and bowl of a few buttered popcorn kernels were anything to go by.

When Zen had entered, he had decided to enter through the door… the door to his balcony, so that none of the maids or butlers would see the kitten or the more concerning stains of blood. To be able to make the journey up the tree and onto his covered balcony, he had ditched his umbrella by the front entrance and turned his sweater around so that the hood was in front of him to put the kitten in so that he could use both hands to climb. Once he had made it onto the balcony he noticed that the TV was playing Star Wars – episode four to be precise – and that his two best friends were seated on opposite sides of the couch.

They work for his brother, Mitsuhide as an assistant to Zen – or a babysitter as Zen often calls him – and Kiki as an intern – or a "definitely going to be a second babysitter" even if she is just one year older than him, not to mention he is 19 years old, too old for a babysitter or two even. He had ignored them and had tried to escape their presence when they had first met and his brother had explained why he had hired them, but he had come to accept them over time and had even been hanging out with them outside of work as friends. Mitsuhide even drives him to his college classes, though it isn't in his job description.

He had barely opened the door when Kiki had paused the movie and turned to glare at him, Mitsuhide turning to look at him a second later.

"It's 11:23 at night Zen, not to mention that there is a thunder storm and heavy rain… you're soaked."

As if to emphasize her point, a giant flash of lightning illuminated the room, followed by a deep rumble only a second later.

Zen closed the door. As much as he wanted to joke around with his friends and maybe continue to watch the movie with them, the kitten was his top priority. The bleeding seemed to have stopped and the kitten was still breathing – he had checked multiple times and picked up his pace because of the kitten rather than because of the growing intensity of the storm – but it was still a shivering, dirty and bloody mess. He was hoping he would be able to get by his two friends but he knew that they would find out sooner or later. Zen looked down at the curled-up kitten in his hood, a sad frown reaching his face.

"We won't scold you horribly seeing that it's Friday and you have the weekend off, but we were pretty worried about you after you disappeared this afternoon. Where were you anyway? We went looking for you for a bit, you weren't in any of your usual places," said Mitsuhide with an apologetic smile.

Zen continued to stare at the kitten a moment before letting out a deep sigh. He knew it would be better if he was honest about the kitten, they could probably even help him take care of it. He looked up at Mitsuhide and was about to speak, but Kiki opened her mouth.

"There's blood on your mitten," worry took over her voice, but she kept most of her stoic attitude as she stared with slightly wide eyes at his left mitten. Mitsuhide let out a small gasp when he saw it as well. He stood up and opened his mouth to go on a panicked rant, but Zen spoke first in hopes of being able to immediately get to work on helping the kitten.

"It's not my blood, it's his," Zen said while pointing into his hood. While he had been walking back to the mansion, he had realized that he should probably find out the kitten's gender. He had been embarrassed, but luckily, the kitten had been too tired to protest further than a weak meow when Zen lifted him higher to look.

Mitsuhide and Kiki were both standing, now giving Zen confused looks. As Zen continued to explain how he found the kitten and how he realized that the wounds are from a knife and not other cats, his friends moved to get everything ready for the kitten. Kiki had gently removed the kitten – who didn't protest at all – from Zen's hood and had demanded that he take off the sweater and mittens. Once he taken them off she told him that they couldn't be saved and would be thrown out and that she would explain to the maids where the blood came from. Mitsuhide had been sent to retrieve extra blankets, a warm towel and a first aid kit.

Kiki gently turned the kitten onto his back in her hand so that they all would be able to see the horrible wound. They all looked at the deep cut that ran across his chest with sorrowful eyes. Mitsuhide said that it was a miracle that the Kitten was still alive, much less that the bleeding had stopped. After that, a bowl – not the popcorn bowl as Kiki had told them when Zen had gone to grab it – of warm water was placed next to Kiki who sat on the floor with the towel over the cleared coffee table, and the kitten with half of his body on the towel and the other half in Kiki's hand as she started cleaning and bandaging the kitten. Zen had offered to help, but Kiki had banished him to go take a warm shower because he was shivering, not as bad as the kitten, but enough that he could get sick if he didn't take care of himself immediately. He did go… eventually, but as Mitsuhide had told him, the shower would give enough time to think of a name for the kitten.

The shower was pleasant, but he still wasn't able to come up with a name. He didn't want to give it a common name – whatever a common name for a cat is – but he couldn't think of anything unique. If Zen was honest though, he didn't spend that much time thinking of names during his 15-minute shower, he was more worried about the kitten's wellbeing. Multiple times had the fear that the kitten would be dead when he left the bathroom occupied his mind. After he had brushed his teeth and gotten dressed into his pajama bottoms and a tank top – that Mitsuhide had somehow snuck in there when Zen had been showering – Zen stood for two minutes with his hand on the door handle, until he finally found the strength to go and check on the kitten.

Kiki was sitting on the couch and Mitsuhide was next to her. He walked over to them to get a better look and had found Mitsuhide with the kitten in a large fluffy white blanket. Kiki looked exhausted but somehow, kept a stoic pose. Even though Mitsuhide couldn't see Zen, he seemed to know when Zen was about to ask about the kitten and turned around to smile at Zen.

"He's alright Zen, just tired."

Zen let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and rounded the sofa to be able to sit in between his friends. Once he sat down, Mitsuhide had (reluctantly) handed the bundled-up kitten to Zen. The blanket was warm, and when Zen gently ran his index finger over the kitten's forehead he found that the kitten was purring rather than shivering and Zen couldn't keep the smile off his face. Zen found himself tracing the small scratch above the left eye – too small to be bandaged and to close to the eye for a band aid – but the kitten – as comfortable as he was – started to struggle and tried to get away from Zen's finger. Zen retracted his finger and settled to just holding the bundle as the kitten found peace again. He looked up with amber eyes at Zen with what looked to be a tired glare.

"Guess he doesn't like it when you touch his scratches," Mitsuhide chuckled from beside Zen.

"I know I wouldn't," said Kiki.

They all continued to watch the sleepy kitten who seemed to have forgiven Zen for the unwanted petting. It was Mitsuhide who broke the silence.

"Have you thought of a name yet, Zen?"

Zen sighed, still looking at the kitten in the blanket – there was more blanket than kitten… a lot more blanket than kitten.

"No… I was too worried about him to come up with anything. Besides, I didn't want to give him a plain, boring, common cat name."

"Hmm… well we can't keep calling him 'he' or 'the kitten'," Mitsuhide said looking back to the TV screen. The movie was stopped on Obi-wan in his hut watching the hologram of Princess Leia.

"How about Obi-wan?" Mitsuhide offered.

Zen looked up at the screen with a blank stare.

"As much as I love Star Wars, I'm not going to name him after any of the characters."

"Why not?"

"Because that's how most people name their animals," Zen said, looking back down at the sleeping kitten.

"And how would you know how most people name their animals, Zen?" Kiki said with a knowing smirk.

A small blush appeared on Zen's cheeks, but he kept his gaze on the kitten.

"… I wanted some ideas for when I got my own pet, but now that I have one, I don't want to give him a regular name."

The kitten's ear had twitched at the word "pet". Suddenly, a little black paw came up and smacked Zen on the nose. It didn't hurt but it shocked all three of them. When they all looked down at the kitten, his eyes were still close, his ears were flat on his head and it looked like he had a pout on his face. After a few seconds, Kiki closed her eyes and smirked while Mitsuhide turned around, covering his mouth as he tried to suppress his laughter. Zen was still staring at the kitten in shock but a small smile had found his face.

"I guess he doesn't like being called a pet," Kiki said, amusement in her tone.

"…Definitely…not…Obi-…" Mitsuhide was having a hard time speaking, he had found the kitten smacking Zen in the nose far too funny.

The kitten's ear twitched at the word Obi and the little pout had left his face. Zen was the only one who noticed it.

 _That's it!_

"You like the name Obi?" Zen asked the kitten, he wasn't really expecting an answer, but he still got one. The kitten opened his amber eyes and meowed at Zen. Zen could have sworn he saw a smile on the kitten's face.

"I thought you said you didn't want to name him Obi-wan?" Mitsuhide was finally able to calm down but still had a big smile on his face.

"I'm not naming him _Obi-wan_ , I'm naming him _Obi_. He likes it," Zen smiled, still looking at little Obi.

Obi meowed again and started playing with the white hair that fell over Zen's eyes. Kiki chuckled as she stood up.

"I feel confident in my skills of cleaning and bandaging _Obi's_ wounds, but it's for the best if we take him to the vet tomorrow. The wound on his chest is pretty bad and I would feel better if a professional looked at it."

Zen nodded, still watching Obi who started to sleepily pet Zen's cheek with his paw. With everything said and done, Kiki turned off the TV, even when Mitsuhide protested. She got the final word in by saying that it was one in the mourning and that they would be taking Obi to the vet when they all woke up. Once they closed the door behind them, Zen stood up and walked to his bed and set the bundle down.

"I'll be right back; I'm just going to turn off the light."

He left his bedside lamp on so that he could find his bed again. the lightning and thunder had stopped, but it was still raining hard and the moon couldn't be seen through the dark clouds. When he had returned to the bed, Obi had gotten out of the bundle and had made himself comfortable on the left side pillow, facing away from the right side of the bed. Zen climbed into the right side of the bed and reached to pet the heavily bandaged black kitten. Obi didn't look and his ear didn't twitch, yet he still somehow knew that Zen was reaching for him and had kicked Zen's wrist away with his hind leg. Zen looked at Obi in shock for a while but then chuckled. He turned around and turned off the lamp. Once it was dark again Zen flipped back over and pulled the comforter up to his chin, watching Obi's steady breathing. A small smile tugged at his face as he closed his eyes.

"…Goodnight…Obi."


	2. Chapter 2

_Two weeks since Obi's rescue._

Obi is still at the vet clinic so that the staff can keep an eye on him. As it turns out though, Obi needs a dozen eyes looking at him at all times! If no one is looking at him for one second, he will open any door that tries to keep him confined. _Seriously!_ When they had all packed into the car the morning after Zen found him and driven off to the vet – it wasn't raining as hard any more – Obi had opened his carrier door _five times!_ Zen had to constantly look at him – Zen wasn't complaining much – because Obi wouldn't try to open the door if he was being watched. They had mentioned it to the vet, who had at the time said not worry about it and that they couldn't put a lock on his cage door because it would get in the way if there was an emergency. But of course, Obi had opened his door… _thirteen times!_ The vets knocked him out with some meds so that they could look at his wounds better and take x-rays. He still somehow opened his door, even when he was sedated, he didn't leave or anything. He actually never leaves, just opens the door. And when the trio had come back the following day, the vet said – because of the story that Zen had told them about how he met Obi – that his constant door opening is most likely from his past "home". The vet said that Obi was most likely locked up a lot and that he had learned how to open doors so that he could take care of his necessities. The vet's reasoning being, that Obi never opens any doors when someone is looking, because it means that he probably found out the hard way that he wasn't supposed to be escaping when he was in past "home".

The wound on his chest was pretty bad and the vet wanted to keep him at the clinic for a _few days._ As to why he is still at the clinic two weeks later: poisoning. The vet made it clear that it wasn't contagious to people or other animals and that Obi would be perfectly fine. It was around noon when they had called Kiki – because Kiki had signed the papers – and the trio was pet shopping for Obi (Zen wanted to make his room "cat heaven" for his new roommate, so he was going all out). Over the phone, the vet had explained that they couldn't tell what kind of poison it was or what it was meant to do, but – this vet was honest and straight to the point, no beating around the bushes – that they know that it had been in one of the last things that he ate. Kiki told the vet that the three of them had given Obi some cat food that morning, but vet knew that they didn't poison him. The vet believes that Obi's previous owner had poisoned him sometime before they threw him out – Zen was only feeling more certain that he wanted to punch Obi's previous owner in the face _hard_ – most likely assuming it would kill him – punch them _really hard_. The vet ended the call by saying that they would contact Kiki later with an update on Obi and the plan for how long he would stay at the vet, and that they were welcome to come back to the clinic to check on Obi that afternoon, but because of his sickness, they couldn't give him any of the stuff they bought him.

They had stopped by, and if Obi wasn't to sleepy due to being sedated, he probably would have smacked Zen on the nose again for leaving him at the vet, but he instead just settled for just placing his paw on Zen's nose.

"I know this is probably scary for you, but these people just want to patch you up and make you feel better," Zen had said. "I promise that you'll come home with me soon, I just want to make sure you're okay… and if I ever meet your past owner, I'll punch them in the face for you."

Zen could have sworn he saw a smile on Obi's face.

Now, it's two weeks later and Obi will be coming home today. Zen is excited. He spent the two weeks how he normally would, but during his free time, he had rearranged his room to meet Obi's needs. Toys sit in a box under the coffee table, covered litter box in a corner of the bathroom, a large cat tree with two scratching posts and three rooms – with cat blankets in them – by a window, and a dozen empty shelves – high and low – on all of the walls around the room for Obi to get around on.

It had taken a while, but it's done now. Zen had taken a picture and showed it to his classmate in his art class. The classmate that he has a crush on and that Mitsuhide enjoys teasing Zen about. The classmate who is studying to be a vet – which was a really good excuse as to why Zen talked to her about Obi. The classmate who he is sitting next to right now while they draw silently. The classmate with apple red hair. _Shirayuki_. She absolutely loves the story about how Zen found Obi – Zen hoped that she either didn't notice or didn't think it strange when Zen blushed from her using the words _"love"_ and _"you"_ in the same sentence – and had said that she agreed with him about punching the previous owner in the face.

Right now, he really wants to tell her that he will be picking Obi up right after class, but there is a strict no talking rule during drawing time. He is still able to draw on the paper in front of him – a drawing of Obi – but is trying to come up with a way to politely invite her without it sounding weird. She had said that she would love to meet Obi and maybe test her medical vocabulary on him, so Zen felt that it would be wrong if he didn't invite her, much less mention that he was picking Obi up today. Still, they have just started with this friendship thing – Zen was sure his face was beet red when she said that they are friends, but luckily, Shirayuki had looked away after that because her phone buzzed – and when people start a friendship, they usually just talk and text for the first week or so, going out – not like that! – comes a little later when they're both sure that they want the friendship. Zen is currently having this argument in his head, and he is only able to still be drawing because of a trick he learned while signing boring papers. He's actually pretty good at multitasking.

 _DINGGGGG_

" _Class is over? What do I do?"_

As he packs up, he tries to think of somethings to say. Finally settling on something, he turns to Shirayuki who is just standing up with all of her stuff packed as well.

"Hey, Shirayuki!"

She turned to face him, a smile on her face and her head tilted slightly in a cute way. Zen forced himself to keep his cool.

"Hm? What is it Zen?"

"I don't believe I told you, but… I'm actually going to be picking Obi up from the vet today." Zen could see the sparkles in her eyes when he said that, she even stood up on her toes from joy.

"Really?"

Zen scratched the back of his head, a faint blush on his cheeks because of Shirayuki leaning towards him, but the thought of finally being reunited with Obi after two weeks of work and college classes was also something that made him feel like there are butterflies in his stomach. From the short time that Zen has spent with Obi, he found that the kitten is incredibly smart. If Obi felt that Zen abandoned him, it might end up being an embarrassing reunion, especially if Shirayuki is there to witness it.

"Yeah, looks like you might be able to meet him soon… If you want you're welcome to come pick him up with us."

Shirayuki knows about Kiki and Mitsuhide already, and knows that Mitsuhide drives Zen to the college, so she may have figured out that Kiki and Mitsuhide are the other part of the "us". There is moment where Shirayuki is surprised, but she smiles and closes her, shaking her head as she falls back onto the flat of her feet.

"Believe me, I would absolutely love to come see him, but I have to go talk to one of my professors after class and my dad is taking the neighbor's kid and me out to dinner. Sorry," she opens her eyes and Zen can see that it is the truth.

"No problem, just thought I'd put the option on the table."

Shirayuki puts on a bright smile and tilts her again.

" _Keep cool, Zen! keep cool, keep cool…"_

"Thanks Zen… well, I better get going. Bye!"

Zen raises his hand in a small wave goodbye as she skips down one way of the hallway.

"Bye."

Zen makes his way down the other direction of the hallway, opening the main door, and walking to Mitsuhide's car by the curb. Kiki is in the passenger seat so Zen slides into the back next to the cat carrier. Once he's buckled up, Mitsuhide takes off towards the vet. In truth, Mitsuhide and Kiki could have pick Obi up earlier, but they all thought it would be better if Zen "rescues" Obi again, so that he doesn't think that Zen doesn't want to deal with him – Obi's a smart cat who had an abusive past owner, he might think that… if cats can think. While Zen is a little sad about Shirayuki not coming with him, He is all but bouncing in excitement because, _finally_ , Zen will be taking Obi home. The clinic is only a few blocks away, but it feels like the city and all it's cars are messing with him, making the trip take forever.

While the city may have been busy, the vet clinic has almost no waiting line. Giving the carrier to one of the receptionist, the trio waits for only two minutes – two minutes too long for Zen – until the receptionist walks back out with the carrier in hand. Zen practically jumps out of his chair, but manages to calmly walk over and gently take the carrier.

Stepping into the car, Zen quickly closes the door and puts on his seat belt. As soon as he's done that, he doesn't even wait for Mitsuhide to take off before he opens the carrier door. Obi jumps out and sits on Zen's lap, glaring at him.

"Sorry you had to stay there for so long, but it was for your health," Zen tells Obi.

Obi quickly stands on his hind legs and smacks Zen on the nose, before settling on his lap again, preferring it over the carrier.

"I said I was sorry," Zen pouts, but then glares at Mitsuhide when the older male chuckles.

They drive until they reach the mansion. Mitsuhide parks in his assigned spot and they all proceed to exit the car. When Zen reaches to place Obi back in his carrier, the kitten dodges Zen's hands and jumps up onto Zen's shoulder.

"Guess he'll ride on your shoulder until we get to your room, huh?" Mitsuhide says from where he's standing next to Zen's open door.

Zen lets out a small laugh before closing the carrier door and stepping out of car, with it in his hand and kitten on his shoulder. The mansion's staff know about Obi at this point, Kiki had told the maid who did the laundry the day after Obi's rescue, who then told another maid, who told more and so on. As far as Zen can tell, Izana doesn't know about Obi yet though, but he knows that it's only a matter of time, and Zen is not looking forward to that conversation. But Izana isn't important right now, Obi being home is. From the looks of the maids and some of butlers, Zen can tell that the staff absolutely adore Obi.

Making their way up to his room on the third level, Obi looks around, but doesn't move from his perch on Zen's shoulder. Zen can see the amazement in his eyes – whenever he can look, he still has to watch where he's going – and can't wait to show Obi what he has done with his room, _their_ room. Zen wanted to make his office – that's attached to the bedroom – "cat heaven" as well, but Kiki quickly shut that down. She didn't give a reason as to why not, but after one second of eye lock with her glare, Zen didn't ask her again. The only thing for Obi in his office is a cat bed with strange designs of multiple shades of green, tan, and brown (Reference to Obi's clothing when we first meet him). While Zen works, he can't afford to be distracted by Obi, and neither can his assistants. Luckily, Obi is a smart kitten, and with all of his new toys and places to sleep or simply lounge, he may easily find other ways to entertain himself while the trio move around the office. Zen will make sure that Obi knows that he still cares for him, when he isn't busy drowning in paper work. The kitten may be a little rebellious, but he isn't without reason, he's alive because he didn't give in to death when his previous owner – who Zen really wants to punch – left him to bleed and apparently be killed by poison in a dirty alleyway in a horrible storm. Why Obi trusts Zen so much already no one knows, but he is glad about that, because it means that Obi won't run away and get into trouble in another dirty alleyway.

Zen opens his bedroom door and the first thing that it seems Obi sees, is the cat tree. He jumps off of Zen's shoulder and trots over to it. He inspects the base of it by sniffing it and testing out one of the scratching posts. The trio smiles at the view, they had known that the cat tree was one of the biggest models when they bought it – Mitsuhide had to assemble most of it because Kiki and Zen were both too weak to do heavy lifting and too short to put together the top and adding the blanket to the top most cave… it's that big – but it looks enormous with tiny little Obi next to it. The black kitten sits down after checking out the bottom of it, turning his head to look at the trio with what Zen could only describe as asking _"this is for me?"_. Zen nods, watching as Obi immediately scales the cat tree with quick elegant ease to the tallest cave. That cave has what the trio had started calling a plank. A 24X30 inch carpeted stand all around the cave – most of the space being in front of the door to the cave. That is where Obi settles to look back at the trio who finally moved from the door to sit down on the couch – Mitsuhide on one of the two chairs near it – smiling triumphantly at them.

"I think he likes it," Mitsuhide sighs, he sounds tired, but Zen ignored it, busy watching Obi enjoying himself on his new (monstrous) cat tree.

"Yeah I think so too," Zen says. "I doubt that I can get tired watching Obi checking out all of his new stuff."

Kiki huffs, standing from her spot on the couch and holding out a folder that she pulled out of nowhere.

"Well, if you think you won't be getting tired anytime soon, then maybe you can finish today's work that you started this morning."

Zen looks at her surprised, but then pouts.

"it won't sign itself, Zen," Mitsuhide joins in.

Zen looks back up at Obi, who, Zen swears, smirks at him. Zen sighs.

"Fine," Zen stands, taking the folder. "Obi, there is a litter box in the bathroom that I hope you'll use. The three of us will be a bit busy for a while, so just make yourself comfortable."

Talking as if your talking to another human would most likely prove useless with any other cat, but Obi seems to understand the human language and human gestures. He proves it by nodding to Zen the turning around to check out the inside of the uppermost cave of the cat tree. With everything said and done, Mitsuhide opens the door to office and closes it behind them.

Zen gets a lot done, a lot more than he had originally planned to do today, and he thanks Obi for that. Once again using his multitasking skill he learned, he reads, either accepts or declines and writes out a reason all the while thinking about how much Obi might be enjoying himself in the other room. He wants to play with him but he has a meeting tomorrow, so he has to go to bed early so that he can wake up early. Obi doesn't seem to mind, he jumps up onto the bed, taking the same pillow he did when he last and first slept on Zen's bed, While the white-haired boy got ready for bed. Tomorrow will be a long day and Zen will have to remember to take a picture of the new and improved Obi to show Shirayuki for their next class, but at the end of all of it, he'll have all the time in the world – four hours – to play with Obi, and he can't wait.


	3. Chapter 3

_Two months since Obi's rescue._

Obi is a smart cat. Zen doesn't know how many times he has either said it or thought it, but he's pretty sure he passed 100 a while ago. The reason why he thinks it now is because the kitten has just done something for him that he never found the confidence to do.

It started a few days after Obi came back from the vet. Zen can't post any pictures of him on any of his social media accounts because Izana might see them. So, Shirayuki didn't have any way to see him. When Zen found out that she was following his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Obi had slapped him on the nose because he was disturbing the kitten's nap. He didn't have her number either… until now. Obi likes to explore outside of Zen's room, so to satisfy him, Zen bought a harness and a leash – Obi hates it but deals with it – and lets the slightly bigger kitten ride his shoulder on his days off, which he spends walking around the city meeting up with employees in different buildings. It's important, Zen thinks, to be one good terms with your employees and to make sure that they're not being treated horribly – luckily they're not.

Today was one of those days where Obi tagged along and Shirayuki just so happened to be walking down the same street, at the same time and recognized him… and noticed Obi. There was a café coincidently right across the street, a café that is cat friendly – funny how things work out. Zen had to remind himself multiple time that this isn't a date. It started off how a usual meeting with friends would go, in a café, the boy buying the girl a cup of tea – she protested, but gave in after the fourteenth time – with an adorable kitten that took an immediate liking to Shirayuki. Obi jumped over onto Shirayuki's shoulder and Zen handed her the leash. Zen couldn't tell who he was jealous of, Shirayuki, who was cuddling Obi to her chest like a baby and scratching his chin without any protest from the black kitten – Obi hates being held like a baby most of the time – or Obi, who had Shirayuki's attention and made her blush a little and giggle when he licked her cheek. They spent some time just sitting at the table, talking about Obi and how well he's been doing since he came back from the vet – she saw the scar on his chest, but Obi had sensed that she was upset so he distracted her by grabbing her hand in his two front paws and started licking her fingers – and also talked a bit about college classes – the art class that they share and the ones they don't share. As stated before, Zen didn't have her phone number, because he thought that she might take it as him asking her out, and while he did want to do that, he knows that Shirayuki is the kind of person who would want to figure out if she likes someone before she goes out with them. He doesn't want to scare her away, so he had never brought it up before. Luckily or unluckily – Zen is still confused about all of it – Obi decided to help him get her number. Which brings us to the now, Shirayuki's phone makes a sound indicating she just got a text, and Obi looks at her phone then to Zen with a smirk on his face – Zen has come to the conclusion that Obi does smirk. Before Zen can stop Obi from doing anything Obi started gently batting at Shirayuki's phone that she left screen up on the table.

"Sorry, he likes to mess around with phones," Zen apologized, his cheeks dusted pink from embarrassment.

"It's fine," Shirayuki giggles. "I have some cat games on my phone that he can play."

Shirayuki left her phone on the table as she put in the password – Zen looked away because he is a gentleman, and a gentleman doesn't memorize the password to the phone of their crush – and played with the screen until she found a cat game. If Zen is honest, he never even heard of cat games on mobile phones, If Obi likes them, then he might download some. On second thought though, Izana knows about all the websites that Zen visits and all the apps that he downloads, so maybe not. Shirayuki moves her hand out of the way after she moves her phone to the middle of the table and Obi watches the 2D fish swim around on the screen. Probably realizing that both humans are watching him, he starts batting at the fish, catching every one as soon as it swims onto the screen. The two laugh before Shirayuki starts up a conversation.

"I'm glad you decided to keep him, Zen," she smiles. "I think an animal as young as Obi can get easily attached to someone who rescues them from a bad situation."

"Yeah," He makes eye contact with her and gently holds it. "But I have to admit, I'm a little stumped as to why he trusted me so quickly. I mean I did some research and I found that animals can have trust issues if they are treated horribly, like if a dog is abused by a man, it'll avoid other men, even if they want to help it."

They aren't paying attention to Obi anymore… not a good idea.

"That's true, especially when they're young. I guess you don't remind Obi of his previous owner in any way."

She tilts her head and gives him a cute closed eyes smile. They don't seem to notice that the splashing sound effects of the cat game have suspiciously stopped. They should really see what Obi is doing.

"Well, I can't say I'm upset about that. I'd never want to be like that person," he sighs. "I'm trying to find them with the help of some of my employees and my brothers employees, I don't think his previous owner is sane. I want to find them before they hurt any more animals, or hurt people."

It's not exactly a happy conversation to have with a friend at a coffee table with the kitten – who they should really check on – that was abused is literally right under their noses. Shirayuki nods.

"That's reasonable," she makes eye contact with him again. "But, with your brothers help, I'm sure you'll find them in no time."

She smiles, but Zen is to distracted by what she said to blush. He turns to look to the side – the wrong side though, because now he really can't see what Obi is doing.

"I… my brother doesn't actually know about Obi. My family has always been strict about getting anywhere near strays, so… I'm afraid if my brother finds out, I won't get to keep him."

Shirayuki is silent for a second, still doesn't notice mischievous Obi who is in a different app now.

"But, you know that he'll find out eventually," she says quietly.

"… Yeah."

He closes his eyes for a moment, but opens them and turns back to Shirayuki when she lets out a puzzled sound. She's looking at Obi with wide eyes. Zen worries that Obi might have batted her nose like he does to him, but before he can say anything, she loosely covers her mouth with a fist as a waterfall of giggles escape her. Confused he looks at Obi… then at her phone. He barely keeps his face from turning as red as a tomato, from what he sees… an empty contact information page. Zen's not stupid, he knows what Obi was trying to do, because the page isn't entirely empty. Where the first name is supposed to be written, Obi has already typed "ZAeEelM". Zen and Shirayuki both know that it was his attempt to write "Zen" and failing. A part of him is glad that Obi is helping him get Shirayuki's number, but another part of him is freaking out. He's thinks and hopes – just a little bit – that Shirayuki will just laugh it off and forget it ever happened, but that is not what happens at all.

"Now that I think about it, Zen," She finally looks up from her giggling and right at Zen. "I don't think we've traded numbers yet."

"O-oh y-yeah, I guess we haven't," he says looking at his coffee cup and nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I guess it's about time that we did. It's important for friend to keep in touch," She smiles pushing her phone towards him. "Besides, this way you can text me all of your pictures of Obi."

Obi meows, he looks like he smiling, so Zen takes it as a _"I'm pleased with this decision"_ meow. Before the moment gets awkward, Zen pulls out his phone, unlocking it and opening it to an empty contact page then handing it to Shirayuki who gets right to work putting in the information. When Zen picks up her phone, he glances at Obi, only to see the kitten smirking at him. After a few seconds of them both filling in their info – and Zen fixing his name – Shirayuki speaks up.

"You can take a selfie if you need to, would it be all right if I took one for my contact photo as well?"

Zen's cheeks turn a little pink and he hopes that she doesn't notice.

"Y-yeah, sure."

She does her signature tilted head smile. Zen comes to the conclusion that she unconsciously does it, she's not intending to look so cute. She lifts his phone a bit to take a selfie, and Zen realizes he should do the same. Getting the camera ready, Obi jumps up onto his shoulder and makes a cute face. He crops it then hands it back to Shirayuki who in turn, gives him back his phone. Of course, she had seen the photo they took, and Zen doesn't know if his heart can take anymore after the comment that she makes.

"Aww, that's such a cute photo, Zen," she cutely giggles.

He knows that she is calling Obi cute, but she had just said the word "cute" and his name in the same sentence.

Shirayuki's phone makes a noise indicating another text – obviously not from Zen – and looks back up to Zen with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," she says. "I need to get going, I'm supposed to be meeting up with some friends of mine."

"Oh, no problem, I actually need to talk with a few of my employees in person, which is why I'm down here today. I guess… this is probably where we part ways."

"Yeah I guess so."

"Well, it was nice seeing you today, thanks for the chat."

"Yeah, and thanks for the tea. It was nice seeing you too Zen," She turns her head a little to look at Obi, extending her hand to scratch his chin. "It was nice finally getting to meet you Obi, I hope we meet again."

It takes a moment, but Zen breaks out his daze from Shirayuki's hand lightly – extremely lightly – brushing against his cheek when she reaches to pet Obi, just in time to say his farewell as they part ways in front of the café. Zen can't hide the that he knows that there is a little more skip in his steps, he's happy, and he knows that if Obi could talk, he would be teasing Zen all the way until they reach their destination – If the little smirk on his face is anything to go by.

Zen has his crush's number. He so excited, but he swears to a silent oath that he won't abuse his rights to having her number. A gentleman respects his crush's privacy and does not disturb them at odd hours just to be satisfied by having a conversation with them. Zen is the kind of person who says good morning and good night to his friends – Mitsuhide started it through texts to make sure he wakes up and go to sleep at the right time – he does it with Obi every day, but he is not going to be doing it with Shirayuki over text. Because while it is a friendly gesture, it can come off as really creepy if it goes on for too long which is usually the second day after you get your friend's number. You don't text good morning, because they might still be trying to sleep after all, and the only time that you text good night, is if you are texting each other before bed for some time.

Zen is a little upset by this – only a little – but he will stay a gentleman, because if he wants a relationship with Shirayuki to work, he needs to be respectful, and so, he will be. But Obi might not, he's a cat, he doesn't care.


	4. Chapter 4

_Six months since Obi's rescue._

Obi is not in Zen's room, and Zen is freaking out. Of course, Zen hasn't kept Obi confined to his room, he knows that Obi will come back to eat and to keep Zen from running all over the mansion and property to find him, plus everybody knows that no door or window can ever be Obi proof, he always finds a way. So it's normal for the much larger kitten to sneak out like he did just a few minutes ago, but today is not the day that Zen wants Obi to be wandering. Today is the _worst_ possible day for him to be walking around the mansion like he owns the place, because the person who _actually_ _owns_ the place is coming to visit, possibly even stay for a few weeks, or forever. Izana, Zen's older brother. Zen still hasn't gotten around to telling his brother about Obi and he figured that the staff know what would happen if he found out, so they've kept their mouths shut.

It would be best if Obi stayed in Zen's room because Izana never goes in there. He might go into Zen's office – emphasis on _might_ – so Zen had made sure to move the cat bed that Obi actually uses often, and Mitsuhide used tape and a vacuum to get rid of all the cat hair. The mansion staff even cleaned up any cat hair that they could see – surprisingly, for a cat who loves to make trouble for the trio, he doesn't bother the staff with hair and dead animals… _at all_ – and hid the wet and dry cat food in a different pantry so that if any of Izana's traveling company, like his secretary Mr. Haruka, did some exploring, they wouldn't find any evidence of a cat. _Everybody_ has taken care of _everything._ Everything that suggests a cat is hidden and cleaned up, everything is taken care of… except the cat in question. Of course, as Zen has said a million times, Obi is a smart cat, he could easily understand that he's not supposed to meet the new people – new to Obi – and should stay hidden, but Zen would rather Obi be hidden in his room. Mitsuhide is worrying too, but Kiki is acting like… well… Kiki, she's not very worried. She's not even concerned about what Obi could substitute for eating, because she says that he can just catch his own meals.

"I know that we don't use rat poison, but still, he could get sick!" Zen protests.

"Then we'll take him to the vet," she says, a blank expression on her face.

"He could also get really dirty," Mitsuhide comments. "I know he prefers sitting in the trees, but he's also the only cat I know who's willing to actually _swim_ to catch a fish. I've seen him do it in the pond in the garden!"

"Exactly! He might make muddy paw prints in the mansion and either my brother or Mr. Haruka will see them," Zen states.

Kiki dead pans.

"Has he ever dragged dirt or mud through the mansion before?"

Both boys pause, they know Kiki has a point, Obi has never left paw prints, the only evidence he ever leaves is his fur that sheds when he hasn't been brushed – because he hates it when humans take care of his hygiene for him – he never leaves paw prints. They are silent, but they need to come up with some sort of retort because their motherly instincts for Obi don't want to surrender to the thought of just leaving Obi outside – they know that's where he went because he prefers the outdoors – for possibly the entire night or even weeks. They try to come up with an argument but they know it's a steep uphill battle when they're going up against Kiki of all people.

Kiki gives a satisfied "hmm", letting a closed eyes grin adorn her features.

"Cats are known for giving themselves baths, a lot of cat memes are about cats licking themselves clean. And if you guys are worried about him staying outside for too long, don't forget how many times he opened balcony doors from both the inside and outside. He'll be fine, he's Obi."

With that, she picks up a folder of documents that Zen has already signed and walks out the doors of the office. They both know where she's going, it doesn't matter what the topic of their conversation is, she always works through it all. Others might say she's being a try hard to insure an actual job with Clarines Corporations, but Zen and Mitsuhide both know that that's just how she is. It's the same with the two boys at the moment, others might say that they are being overdramatic about not knowing where Obi is, but those others don't know the consequences of either Izana or Mr. Haruka finding Obi. While Zen knows that his brother would verbally torment him and remind him of the "no strays rule", Maybe even hold Obi by the scruff of his neck while he taunts Zen. He believes it would be even worse if Mr. Haruka finds him. Mr. Haruka isn't a very violent man at all really, but his speech sure makes him sound like a man ready to lead an army off to war at any moment, plus, to make things worse, Mr. Haruka hates cats. He's not like the average person who just prefers dogs over cats, Mr. Haruka _hates_ cats, add the fact that no matter how well Zen bathes Obi in his sink – Obi hates that the most – his many scars along his body make him look like a street cat that got into a lot of fights. Mr. Haruka would inform Izana if he saw Obi, but Zen can only imagine how scared the black cat would be if he meets Mr. Haruka.

Mitsuhide sighs and Zen turns to look at him.

"Well… your brother would be suspicious if we weren't here to greet him and Obi does come in through the balcony most of the time. So… I think it'll be fine," He meets Zen's eyes with an apologetic smile.

They hold each other's gaze for a second before Zen also sighs. He walks behind his desk and looks out his window. His Office window has a great view of the driveway, paved circle and parking lot – perfect view of Mitsuhide's parking spot, so he knows if he'll be late or leave when he's not supposed to… or to check to see if the coast is clear and he can "borrow" his car to go meet up with Shirayuki in the next town over, but he of course leaves a note of apology for Mitsuhide – and he can see that his brother is still not here, but it's getting close to time. He knows that Mitsuhide is right, but he can't help but worry, if Izana finds out about Obi, he'll have him sent to the pound to either get adopted by someone else or if he doesn't get adopted… Zen closes his eyes, he forces himself not to think about that, maybe if Izana finds out, Zen can convince him to not send Obi away. He had this talk with Shirayuki many times with Obi entertaining himself nearby – he always seems to know when Zen is going to see Shirayuki, even before he says anything – and while it wasn't a very pleasant topic, he remembers very clearly that if his brother does send Obi to the pound, Zen will contact Shirayuki immediately and she will go to adopt him.

 _Typical Shirayuki._

Of course, Zen has to be positive, there is still a chance that his very observant older brother, who know everything that's going on with everyone and whose secretary who absolutely hates cats, does frequent mansion checks and double checks and has trust issues won't find out about Obi. There is a good chance, he doesn't know how likely it is that they won't find out, but there's still a chance. To give that chance better odds, Zen needs to play his part, he need to act as if he doesn't have a cat, he can't keep looking to the window or all of Obi's known – or so he thinks – hiding places. His brother after all, is very, _very_ observant.

Suddenly, before the gates, he sees the reflection of the sun across the roof of a white limo.

"He's here," Zen breathes, more to himself than to Mitsuhide, but the aide still takes it as his cue to open the door for both of them so that they may greet their _guests._

As he walks down the hallways and many stairs, the need to look for Obi tickles his thoughts, but he keeps his gaze forward, just because he isn't with his brother just yet, doesn't mean he can look in the shadows anymore. If he's going to be playing the part for his brother, then he needs to play the part for himself.

The Limo is just pulling up when he steps out onto the marble steps that lead down to the paved circle. He doesn't walk down to greet them, he was told to always wait for guests to come to him, it has something to do with proper manners. Zen doesn't really understand it, to him, walking down to greet you guest seems politer, but he'll stand at the top of the steps none the less.

Three of the mansion staff members walk to back of the limo to unload the popped trunk, while the limo driver steps out to open the back door. In the corner of his eye, Zen sees that the luggage that the staff is pulling out of the trunk is fairly light, three bags and a suitcase, but Zen believes that the third bag, that appears to be a red duffle bag, belongs to the limo driver and that the suitcase is full of work for Izana to do during his stay. They packed small, so it could be that they're either staying for one night or a few. Much to Zen's relief, it doesn't look like they'll be staying long. Don't get him wrong, he respects and looks up to his brother, and holds respect for Mr. Haruka as well, but at least it means that Obi has better chances of not being discovered. Putting his thoughts of Obi aside, Zen lets a soft and polite smile take over his face, after all, his brother is now stepping out of the car with Mr. Haruka not far behind.

Izana is dressed in white dress pants, black formal shoes, a navy blue button up with grey buttons, no tie and a white suit jacket hanging off his shoulders. His blonde hair lightly flows at his shoulders. He smiles at Zen, a smile that seems so natural, so innocent, but something about that smile feels… sadistic. Behind him, Mr. Haruka is dressed in a lavender suit, with a white undershirt, a gold pin of the Clarines Corporation's logo, complete with white dress shoes, a black tie and a black handkerchief folded nicely in his breast pocket. He doesn't smile, Zen is used to it and is used to Mr. Haruka and his brother not looking or thanking any of the staff that is helping.

He has always been upset about how his brother never gives the staff a second thought. They had spent a lot of time with each other and their parents, but if Zen were to do the math, both of the brothers had been raised and cared for by the mansion staff more than their own parents. A driver drove them to school in a too nice car – that was embarrassing and made it hard to make friends with regular kids when the more stuck up ones kept literally pushing the others aside to talk to Zen or his brother – the maids tucked them into bed and read them bed time stories, the chefs were obviously the ones who made meals for the two of them, and it was the Head Butler Greyfor – he was a great guy, Zen misses him and his funny mustache a lot, Obi would have liked him – and his wife who was the Head Maid who did the usual parent scolding when they broke something or only ate junk food and refused to eat their veggies – or just Zen really, Izana was way more behaved. Their parents were always so busy with work that they didn't really have time to take care of them, yet whenever the two of them talked about the importance of the company and making dad proud – Zen wasn't completely against it – Izana always talked as if it was their parents who did everything for them. Did the driving, cooking, tucking them into bed and reading bedtime stories, although they certainly did scold them – just Zen – if they did something that they weren't happy about. But Zen isn't about to tell them to thank the staff, he would love to, but it was because ten-year-old Zen became very defensive when his father didn't pay much mind to Mr. Greyfor that both Greyfors were fired. It was a stupid reason, but they were both kind to Zen when they left the mansion grounds for the last time. Zen may be the only true resident of the mansion right now, but Izana is the only one who has the power to hire or fire staff, and now is the worst time to argue about what the staff is doing, seeing that the very staff in question are helping him keep a former stray cat hidden from Izana and Mr. Haruka. Besides, the staff is fully aware and have told Zen that they don't mind the lack of attention really because if Izana has been somewhat ignoring the staff since youth, then it will be difficult to break habit now. Zen is sure that some of them would feel delighted if Izana or even the very serious Mr. Haruka said thank you or something nice to them.

"You look well dear brother," Izana says as he gracefully climbs the marble steps.

Zen slightly bows, another thing that his parents told Mr. Greyfor to tell Zen to do when he meets with his brother.

"As do you, elder brother. You look well too, Mr. Haruka," Zen turns to look at Izana's secretary.

"Thank you, Supervisor Zen," Mr. Haruka also bows a little, but still does not smile.

That's right, _Supervisor_. Because Mr. Haruka is not a man to befriend himself with his boss and his bosses little brother. He does not believe friendship is how someone can get a promotion or pay raise, because it supposedly annoys bosses. Well, he certainly hasn't linked Zen's higher productivity to the presence of his assistant and intern, especially when they bribe him with hanging out at the movies, new restaurants, or any other places that friends go to hang out. If Zen could give Mitsuhide a pay raise and Kiki the actual job, he would, because they work hard… especially Kiki, she's a workaholic.

"We have a lot to discuss, Zen. I hope I am not interrupting your work," Izana walks pass Zen to take the lead with Mr. Haruka at his side.

"Not at all, elder brother."

Zen turns to walk on the side of his brother that is not occupied by Mr. Haruka, Mitsuhide is right behind them. Izana stops just before he steps through the double doors that two members of the staff are holding open. Zen looks up at his brother confused. Izana has that same seemingly polite smile that just screams danger to Zen.

"By the way Zen, will little Obi be joining us? I've been dying to meet him these past six months."

With that, Izana turns to enter the mansion. Mr. Haruka is the only one who is not surprised by Izana's sudden statement, and when Zen turns to look at him with a shocked expression on his face, he thinks he sees anger in those copper eyes. Mr. Haruka closes his eyes and turns to follow Izana. Zen as well resumes trailing behind his brother and one glance over his shoulder confirms that he is not the only other one that heard Izana's question. Mitsuhide is visibly sweating, but trying very hard to maintain a focused expression. And behind Mitsuhide, the staff, they are either looking at the ground with fearful and sad expressions or are watching the four of them climb the stairs to go to Izana's own office on the second floor also with upset expressions. Of course they are fearful, because everyone knows the likelihood of Izana allowing Obi to stay and not scolding Zen for hiding the cat from him. The talk that the two are about to have will undoubtedly be the longest and most heart wrenching conversation that they will ever have.

Zen opens his bedroom door and closes it behind him because Mitsuhide and Kiki have already retired for the night. The lights are off but there is a full moon out, and it illuminates his room and creates dark shadows if an object blocks the light from touching some places on the floor. Zen trudges towards his bed and flops down face first on to it. He lays there for a moment before he rolls onto his back to look up at the ceiling. He thinks of his conversation with his brother that took up the entire evening, they even talked – mostly Izana, but Zen did make some comments of defense when Izana gave him permission to speak – through dinner, which tasted very bitter for some reason. Their conversation continued after dinner until his brother deemed it time to retreat to their beds and asked Zen to say goodnight to Obi for him. Zen looks to his right-side night stand, at the digital clock that sits on it.

12:09 A.M.

They had talked for a long time, but Zen couldn't help but feel surprised because it felt like he had talked with his brother for a lot longer than six hours. Well, time flies when you're having fun, Zen guesses that it's safe to assume that it tends to slow down when you're not. While the majority of the conversation had been depressing and infuriating on Zen's part, the last few minutes had lifted his heart. He smiles remembering what his brother said before he sent him off to bed.

Zen hears a small clacking sound accompanied by two small thuds against glass. He bolts up in bed and looks to the nearest window. _Nothing_. Out of the corner of his eye he sees one of the double glass doors to the balcony open slowly a few inches. He turns to look at it, at first seeing nothing, but before he can get up to investigate he sees a black shadow and glowing amber close to the ground in the doorway.

"Obi?"

The cat meows and invites himself the rest of the way into the room, closing the door behind him with his hind leg.

"Where were you this afternoon?"

Obi stays quiet as he walks up to Zen and jumps up onto the bed to sit next to him. He looks up into Zen's deep blue eyes with his own amber that shines under the moonlight. Obi is a cat of many expressions, in the six months of keeping him, Zen believes that he learned how to read Obi's thoughts. He imagines the cat having a non-deep voice that is also not high pitch, and he mostly talks cheerfully, especially when he teases him about Shirayuki, but he can also sound scary and dangerous when Zen talks about some of the more… disturbing cases that he has to sign that make him extremely angry at mankind. The look that he is giving Zen right now comes off as _"How did it go with your brother?"_ in a worried tone.

Zen sighs, continuing to look Obi in the eye as he reaches up scratch behind his ear. Obi has grown a lot, but Kiki says that she thinks that Obi has not yet reached his full size. When Zen first found Obi, he was a little smaller than his hand, now he is almost twice that size. Kiki gave the theory that Obi was the runt of the litter, but because they don't have any cats to compare to Obi, haven't met his parents or his littermates, and because the word "runt" doesn't appear to be in Obi's vocabulary that he understands, they don't know for sure if he's the runt or if he'll be average size. Zen is stalling if anything, he doesn't really know how he can explain tonight's conversation without Obi sneaking off after Zen falls asleep to go and have his own "talk" with Izana. Of course, Zen doesn't know if Obi will actually do that, but the cat has proven to be fiercely loyal and protective of Zen, anything's possible with Obi.

Obi meows when Zen doesn't answer and moves his head so that Zen can't scratch behind his ear. Obi only ever likes petting and scratches when they're behind his ears, but he still has a limit for how long someone can pet him. Zen admits that he's jealous that Shirayuki can pet Obi longer than him. Obi never moves away from Shirayuki's petting. Zen sighs, he knows that Obi is going to keep bugging him and if Zen stays silent, he might take it as Zen being threatened or something.

"My brother already knew about you before he arrived today."

Obi tenses and his eyes go wide. His expression screams _"HOW?"_. Zen frowns a little and lays down on his bed. He has to bend his knees and push himself further up the bed to able to rest his head on the pillows. Obi trots up to the pillows as well, staring into Zen eyes intensely, he's expecting an answer.

"He told me that he knew about you since the beginning, because there are cameras around the mansion," Zen is looking up at the ceiling, but he can see Obi tense more and look around the room. "There aren't any in my room or the bathroom because he's being nice about my privacy. He told me that there is one in my office, it's most likely because if someone were to look for any Clarines Corporations documents in the mansion, they would most likely break into my office."

It really Izana's way of making sure that his little brother is doing his work. Honestly, the only ones who could "break" into his office are Zen and Obi, although, Zen usually sneaks out rather than in. There has only been one case where someone has broken into the mansion, but they were quickly taken care by Mrs. Greyfor – the intruder broke a vase, so he got beat up by Mrs. Greyfor with a broom. That intruder used a back door and only got as far as the door to the kitchen, which is where the vase was. There have been two other cases, but those intruders didn't get close to the mansion. One was stopped on the outside of the wall where they were climbing, and the other got found by Mr. and Mrs. Greyfor's Doberman Pincher – a sweet playmate for Zen but also a great guard dog – who the Greyfor's were allowed to have on the property since, because of their jobs, lived in the mansion in the servant quarters. All three of those intruders were confirmed to not be sent by or work for other companies. They actually all had some sort of grudge against the Wistalia's. The one caught inside the mansion used to work for Clarines Corporations and wanted to get revenge, apparently by kidnapping both of the young Wistalia's – Izana was 13 and Zen was 7 at the time – and holding them for ransom. The other two had a similar plan, but were only aiming for Zen – Age 9 for the second guy and 10 for the third – because Izana was already joining their parents on their business trips having already skipped a few grades and having a hired professor travel with him to teach him further. Those guys just saw it as an easy way to get a cruise ship load of money. So the camera in his office is useless because keeping the high-class documents, receipts, etc. in the mansion is a bad idea, it is dived amongst the two main work buildings and only Izana and their mother can access it, and any competitors who really want all that information would have figured that out if they looked into it, and they should also know that Zen can't give them that information because he was only ever told what the public has already figured out.

Zen sighs, his brother is a troublesome person. Obi meows, his tail is twitching, Of course Zen could also be imagining it.

"He was very much against you staying here," Zen slides a hand under Obi's belly, noticing this and knowing what he's trying to do, the cat steps up onto Zen and lays down on the teen's torso and stomach. Zen gently wraps his arms around the cat. Obi might not like petting that much, but he's a huge cuddler – nobody has figured out why, but nobody really cares.

"However," Obi stares at him expectantly. "At the end of our conversation, he allowed you to stay."

Obi's ears twitch in a happy way and he reaches towards Zen's face with a small paw, lightly patting his nose. Zen can't help but chuckle at the gesture. He should take offence to it, because Obi does it to congratulate Zen when he does a simple chore like putting his clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor – it doesn't matter how tired he is at the end of the day, he has to make the maids jobs easier, so he can't act like a spoiled brat all the time – or at times like when Mitsuhide taught Zen how to use a vending machine and he finally figured it out after the third try – don't ask. But Zen can't really take offence because it's adorable and his little black paw tickles.

"Of course there are two conditions," Obi stops his patting and holds his paw above his nose. "Condition one, you can't interfere with my aides or my own work." Obi nods his head.

"Condition two, you have to do your own work around the mansion, as in manage rodent population and guard duty… for some reason," Obi nods again and gives Zen two more pats on the nose before retracting his paw.

Zen giggles, this will work out just fine. He decides not to mention that his brother also knows about Shirayuki and is not pleased about Zen's "romantic liking" of her because it would look better for the company if he marries a girl from another successful company or just a woman with power under their thumb, Obi wouldn't like to hear that. In the future, probably during Izana's three day stay at the mansion, Zen will approach his brother again and tell him that he will continue to be close to Shirayuki, even if they can only ever be just friends.

Suddenly, Zen feels Obi trying to stand up, so he moves his arms away, deciding it best not to wrestle with the cat – he's learned his lesson after he tried to do it the first time. Obi steps off his chest and moves to take his spot on the right side pillow, curling up, but probably not falling asleep just yet. Zen takes it as his cue to change into his pajamas and brush his teeth before going to bed himself. Zen considers himself responsible, but is aware that he sometimes uses excuses to not brush his teeth or just go to bed in his clothes, but Kiki and Mitsuhide have already taught Obi to remind him – now it's three against one.

By the time he gets back to bed, it's already 1:23 A.M. so he just slides into the left side of the bed, facing Obi. His amber orbs glisten in the natural lighting, but there is no emotion in them. Zen has seen this face before and believes it to be his resting face. Obi is a fun cat, but he had a bad kitten-hood before Zen found him in the alleyway during the storm. If Zen had to guess, he'd say Obi is just making sure that he is alright, probably knows that Zen is hiding something from him, but also making sure that Zen is feeling down because of whatever he is hiding. Obi hasn't really had a chance to prove it, but the trio know that he fiercely loyal and protective of them and Shirayuki, he could probably make the meanest of dogs bow down to him in order to protect them. And it's this face, this emotionless face with stern amber eye that he wears when he might fear that his friends are in danger. Even so, Zen is glad that he found Obi, _no_ , that he _took him home_ , because Obi has changed the trio's lives, no matter what Mr. Haruka or his brother says. Obi may not be a regular, predictable and attention loving – that was also a surprise to everyone – cat like all the others, but he is the best cat – and only cat – Zen has ever met. And as he closes his eyes and lets sleep take him, he thinks:

" _I wouldn't give him up for the world."_


End file.
